In response to the ever-increasing demand for faster innovation, customers are embracing more agile, service-oriented IT models that rely on both private and public clouds. In a 2016 VMware customer survey, 60 percent of enterprise customers polled stated they are using a public cloud. (1) VMware Cloud Foundation delivers to customers a direct path to the hybrid cloud by providing them a common infrastructure that can be deployed on-premises or run as a service from the cloud with a consistent operational experience across clouds.

VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3 to Deliver IT Service Provisioning for the Hybrid CloudExpanding VMware Cloud Foundation to include cloud management functionality will provide enterprises with a hybrid cloud platform featuring a consistent operational model and the freedom to run traditional or cloud-native applications without re-writing them. Through VMware SDDC Manager™, VMware Cloud Foundation will automate the deployment and configuration of vRealize Automation, vRealize Operations and vRealize Log Insight as part of the platform's standardized architecture. This will help enterprises achieve faster time to value.

The integration of VMware Cloud Foundation and vRealize Automation will help customers to achieve greater business agility by automating application and infrastructure service delivery via self-service capabilities and Day 2 operational capabilities across a hybrid cloud. Customers will be able to model complete application and infrastructure stacks in the form of blueprints that include compute, storage, networking, and security resources along with all of the relationships that bind them together. The intelligent operations delivered by the combination of vRealize Operations and vRealize Log Insight will help enterprises to plan, manage and scale their hybrid cloud deployments with confidence.

Additionally, VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3 will introduce heterogeneous server support (different server models) within a single rack as well as the ability to select specific servers for each workload domain. This combination of new features will provide enterprises with increased flexibility by enabling them to tailor their environments specifically to the needs of their applications. Additionally, support for varied hardware will enable IT departments to achieve greater ROI on existing hardware.

VMware Cloud Foundation provides a complete set of software-defined services for compute, storage, network and security, and now cloud management. Its built-in, automated lifecycle management simplifies the administration of the software stack from initial deployment to patching and upgrading. VMware Cloud Foundation is available for on-prem deployment or consumed as a service in the public cloud via VMware Cloud™ on AWS, IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions, CenturyLink, Fujitsu K5, OVH and Rackspace Private Cloud powered by VMware.

Dell EMC VxRack SDDC, the easy and fast way to stand up a VMware-based, rack scale software-defined data center environment, is now powered by the latest VMware technologies, including VMware Cloud Foundation, making it up to 80 percent more efficient at scale, providing more resources for applications with a single management cluster for the entire system (read press release);

Fujitsu will deliver VMware cloud solutions as a service on the Fujitsu Cloud Service-K5-powered by VMware Cloud Foundation in addition to Fujitsu Integrated System PRIMEFLEX for VMware Cloud Foundation for on-prem environments (read press release);

Rackspace is delivering Rackspace Private Cloud powered by VMware, built on VMware Cloud Foundation, which helps customers reap the benefits of the software-defined data center in a solution that is delivered as a Service and fully managed by Rackspace (read press release).

Additionally, VMware and Intel collaborated to deliver the capabilities of the Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors to VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3, and are working together to offer mutual enterprise customers a fast, easy and optimized way to build on-premises environments based on VMware Cloud Foundation. Intel® Select Solutions for VMware Cloud Foundation will offer verified configurations from major OEMs for running VMware Cloud Foundation. Intel Select Solutions include Intel Xeon Scalable processors and other integrated Intel technologies to help customers achieve top performance, security, and reliability for traditional and containerized workloads and hybrid clouds. Intel Select Solutions for VMware Cloud Foundation will be available in the first half of 2018.

VMware Cloud Foundation is gaining traction with global enterprise and commercial customers with large data centers looking to achieve the benefits of a hybrid cloud. Customers who deploy VMware Cloud Foundation can achieve the following benefits when compared to legacy hardware-defined data centers:

Up to 6-8x faster time to market by eliminating complex processes around system design, testing, bring-up, and configuration; (2)

Increase admin productivity by up to 2x by automating Day 2 operations such as patching, updates, and monitoring; (2)

Reduce overall total cost of ownership (TCO) of private cloud deployments by up to 30-40 percent; (2)

Deploy workloads with portability between private and public clouds; and,

Eliminate hardware costs when consuming as a service from the public cloud.

A growing number of customers have adopted VMware Cloud Foundation to accelerate time to market, de-risk deployment, lower TCO, and/or future-proof their infrastructure.

Supporting Quote"VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3 will be a leap forward in delivering on our promise of providing customers with the simplest path to the hybrid cloud," said John Gilmartin, vice president and general manager, Integrated Systems Business Unit, VMware. "Since introducing VMware Cloud Foundation in 2016, our customers have consistently purchased and deployed vRealize Automation alongside the platform for automated delivery of application and infrastructure services. It was a no-brainer for us to integrate VMware Cloud Foundation and the vRealize Suite to automate the deployment and configuration of cloud management services to accelerate customer time to market."

Packaging and AvailabilityVMware Cloud Foundation 2.3 is expected to be available by end of VMware's fiscal year 2018 (Feb. 3, 2018). With VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3, VMware will introduce two new VMware Cloud Foundation SKUs featuring new cloud management capabilities.

About VMware CloudVMware Cloud™ gives customers maximum flexibility to select the best cloud environment to deploy and run applications on any device, with the ability to leverage development platforms and building blocks for new applications -- while also maintaining consistent operations that help ensure the integrity of the entire IT portfolio. VMware Cloud provides the essential software foundation that delivers a common operating environment spanning on-premises data centers and leading public/managed clouds. VMware Cloud delivers an optimal environment for all applications: custom-built applications, packaged apps, virtualized, cloud-native and SaaS. VMware Cloud creates an ideal environment for building, testing and deploying production applications and is supported by a broad ecosystem of partners.

About VMwareVMware, a global leader in cloud infrastructure and business mobility, helps customers realize possibilities by accelerating their digital transformation journeys. With VMware solutions, organizations are improving business agility by modernizing data centers and integrating public clouds, driving innovation with modern apps, creating exceptional experiences by empowering the digital workspace, and safeguarding customer trust by transforming security. With 2016 revenue of $7.09 billion, VMware is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA and has over 500,000 customers and 75,000 partners worldwide.

VMware, Cloud Foundation, vRealize, vRealize Automation, vRealize Operations, Log Insight, SDDC Manager, and VMware Cloud are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

This article may contain hyperlinks to non-VMware websites that are created and maintained by third parties who are solely responsible for the content on such websites.